Terms and conditions

Pay monthly airtime terms and conditions (May 2010)

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Pay monthly airtime conditions

1. Terminology explained

We, our or us – Vodafone Limited.

You or your – the customer whose name appears on the order form/welcome letter/welcome email.

Agreement – these conditions, the price plan and the price plan charges guide.

Charges – charges for services, as published in our price plan, price plan charges guide or which we otherwise provide. These include the monthly line-rental charges (billed for the month ahead unless we say otherwise), usage charges (billed after use) and any other charges for the services provided to you or someone using your SIM card (for example, charges for the voicemail service, itemised billing).

Minimum period – a period of time shown on your order form/welcome letter/welcome email, which begins when we connect your SIM card to the applicable price plan. In the case of a change, renewal or upgrade to your price plan, the minimum period begins when we change your price plan and continues for the remainder of your previous minimum period plus any new period of time shown on the changed price plan in your new order form/welcome letter/welcome email.

Mobile equipment – your mobile phone, laptop or other equipment and the SIM card used to access our services.

Network – the electronic communications systems we use to provide the services in the UK.

Price plan – the package of services you have chosen to receive as shown on the order form/welcome letter/welcome email. This is updated every so often.

Price plan charges guide – the terms and out of bundle charges for your price plan. Available in store and online. This is updated every so often

Services – the communications service you receive through the network and other services we may provide to you.

2. Your agreement period

a) We’ll continue to supply you with, and you must pay the charges for, the services until we or you end this agreement in line with clause 11.

b) If this agreement is ended before the end of the minimum period (whether by you or us), you must still pay all the line-rental charges until the end of the minimum period. This applies when this agreement comes to an end in clause 11, except in the following situations:

if we end this agreement under clause 11a; or

if you end this agreement under clause 11b; or

if we end this agreement because we are permanently unable to provide the services to you.

3. Services and coverage

a) We strive to give you the services when you want them. However, due to the nature of mobile technology, it’s impossible to provide a completely fault-free service.

b) We will also try to give you access to networks in other countries (what we call ‘roaming’). However some overseas networks are limited in quality and coverage so any access to overseas networks depends on the arrangements we have with operators in individual countries. It’s worth noting that some of the services you enjoy in the UK may not be available when you’re abroad.

4. Using our services – the rules

a) It’s your responsibility to make sure you keep to this agreement, and you follow our instructions on using our services – even if someone else is using your mobile equipment.

b) You must never use your mobile equipment or our services for anything we would consider is abusive, illegal, fraudulent, or a nuisance. Nor for any criminal activities.

c) You’re not allowed to sell all or any part of our services to anyone else.

d) We’ve allocated you a phone number on the network. This number does not belong to you and we may charge you a fee if you want to transfer this number to another provider.

e) The SIM card, and the software within it, belongs to Vodafone and is licensed to you so you can use our services. We may change your SIM card or tell you to return it at the end of this agreement. If you need a replacement SIM card, you’ll be charged the going rate in our then current price plan charges guide.

f) If you use your mobile equipment to browse the internet, please bear in mind that we accept no responsibility for any content or services you access. Some sites can lead to unwanted programs or material being downloaded without your knowledge. This can result in unauthorised people accessing your mobile equipment.

g) You must only use mobile equipment which is approved for connection to our services.

5. Payment

a) You must pay any charges, by direct debit, within 7 days of the date on your bill. If you don’t want to pay by direct debit we may accept other forms of payment, but we will charge you a fee each month. VAT will be charged where it applies.

b) If you owe us any money beyond your due date, and you do not have valid grounds for disputing the payment, we may charge you interest. We charge interest daily at the rate of 2% above the base rate of Barclays Bank each year. We may also charge you reasonable administration costs as a result of you paying your bill late or failing to pay it.

6. Losing your mobile equipment

a) If your SIM card or mobile equipment is lost or stolen, you must tell us as soon as possible so we can stop someone else using it. You’re responsible for all charges up until the time you report it missing to us. You must also continue to pay the line-rental charges for the minimum period.

7. Changing charges and terms

a) We may occasionally change or introduce new charges. If we believe any change in our charges will not disadvantage you, we may include it without telling you. However, if we increase our charges, we’ll give you at least 14 days' notice.

b) We may change or withdraw services at any time and we may change or introduce new terms to this agreement at any time. If we do, we’ll give you at least 30 days’ notice of these changes. If such changes are to your significant disadvantage you may have a right to end this agreement under clause 11b and we’ll tell you if you do.

c) We may need to change your phone number or other number. We will let you know if this is the case.

8. Call limit, deposit and part payments

a) We may set a monthly call limit on your account. This may be increased or removed subject to a credit check. You may be able to go over your call limit, but if this happens, you must pay all charges.

b) We may ask you for a deposit:

when we connect your SIM card;

to increase or remove your call limit;

if you increase how much you use the services; or

to unblock your SIM card from contacting international numbers, using overseas networks or making premium-rate calls.

You can ask for a refund of your deposit at any time, but we may reduce your call limit if you do. We can use the deposit to pay off any charges you owe us. When this agreement comes to an end, we’ll repay any deposit you’ve given us less any money you owe us. We will not pay any interest on any deposit we take from you.

c) If there’s a significant increase in your usage between bills, we may contact you and possibly, ask for a part payment so you can continue to use our services.

9. Suspending our services

a) We can suspend or restrict your use of any of our services (other than emergency services) if:

we believe your mobile equipment or the services are being used in a way we do not allow under this agreement;

you have not kept to this agreement (for example, you fail to pay any charges when due);

we have asked you for a deposit or part payment which you’ve not paid;

you go over your call limit;

we believe that you have entered into this agreement fraudulently;

we believe you got the use of any number, mobile equipment or services in an unauthorised, illegal, or fraudulent way;

you tell us that your mobile equipment has been lost or stolen;

you become bankrupt or make any arrangement with creditors or go into liquidation or an administration order is made or a receiver is appointed over any of your assets;

you do anything (or allow anything to be done) which we think may damage or affect the operation of our network or services; or

the emergency services tell us to, or a law or regulation is passed which means we need to do so.

b) We will try to tell you when we suspend or restrict your use, but we do not have to.

c) When we suspend or restrict your use, this agreement will continue and you still have to pay all charges due during any period when we suspend or restrict the service.

10. Credits if there is a failure of the service

a) If we have to maintain our network or if there is a technical fault of our network that means you can’t use all our services for 3 days in a row, we’ll credit you for the line-rental charge for the period the service was not available.

11. Ending this agreement

a) Either you or us may end this agreement by giving the other 30 days’ notice in writing. Your notice must include your mobile number and the signature or appropriate security details of the account holder. You must pay the charges during the notice period.

b) You may end this agreement by writing to us if:

we don’t do something fundamental that we should have done under this agreement (for example, if there is a complete failure of the network for 7 days in a row due to something we have done), within 7 days of you asking us in writing;

we tell you that there will be an increase in the line-rental charge by more than the increase in the retail price index (worked out as a percentage) since the last line-rental increase and you write to us before the increase applies;

we increase your charges in the UK which have the effect of increasing your total charges (based on your usage in the previous month) by more than 10% and you write to us before the increase applies; or

we change this agreement to your significant disadvantage including changing or withdrawing services (we will tell you if this is the case) and you write to us within one month of us telling you about the change. This does not apply if the change or withdrawal relates to services which you can cancel without us ending this agreement.

c) We may end this agreement at any time by writing to you if:

you do anything (or allow anything to be done) which we think may damage or affect the operation of our network;

within 7 days of us asking you in writing, you do not do something fundamental that you have to do under this agreement (for example, pay the charges when they are due); or

we are permanently unable to provide the services to you.

d) When this agreement comes to an end:

we will disconnect your mobile equipment from our network (you may keep the mobile equipment, but may have to make a payment as described below);

you will have to pay immediately all charges you owe on the date we disconnect your mobile equipment from the network (including any charges for additional subscription services such as content services); and

you must still pay all the line-rental charges until the end of the minimum period. This applies when this agreement comes to an end in clause 11, except in the following situations:

if we ended this agreement under clause 11a; or

if you ended this agreement under clause 11b; or

if we ended this agreement because we were permanently unable to provide the services to you,

in these three situations you do not have to pay all line rental charges until the end of the minimum period but you may have to make a payment in respect of your mobile equipment. We will let you know in your order form or welcome letter or welcome email if your mobile equipment is subject to such a payment and provide you with the original value on which that payment is based. The payment will be 1/24th of the original value of the mobile equipment, less any initial payment you make towards it, multiplied by the number of months remaining until the end of your minimum period. You will make this payment to us immediately on request following the agreement coming to an end.

If this agreement ends before the end of the minimum period, and you pay us the line-rental charges for the rest of the minimum period in one lump sum, we will reduce this line-rental payment by a rate we set. You can ask us how much this rate will be.

12. Liability and exclusions

a) We are legally responsible to you if our negligence causes death or personal injury. We will not be legally responsible to you for:

loss of income;

loss of use of the services;

lost business or missed opportunities; or

any loss or damage that is not directly caused by us or which we could not reasonably expect at the time we entered into this agreement with you.

We will not be legally responsible to you if we cannot provide the services because of something outside of our reasonable control.

b) Except for fraud or where our negligence causes death or personal injury, we will not pay more than £3000 or 150% of the charges in the previous 12 months, whichever is higher, for each claim or a series of related claims.

c) If you are a consumer, the terms of this agreement will not affect any rights which you may have under any law and which we cannot exclude under any agreement.

13. Personal information

a) We and our group companies may use your information for our own legal requirements and to:

monitor the quality and security of the network and test and maintain our IT systems;

protect us, and our brand, from activities that might cause loss or damage;

assess and improve products and services;

analyse your use of the services for marketing purposes (including, but not limited to, calls made and received by you); and

contact you with marketing messages if you have not objected. These messages may include marketing from other organisations, but we will not pass responsibility of your information to these other organisations.

b) We may monitor or record calls, emails or text messages made to, or by us, for our business purposes such as to:

improve customer service;

carry out quality-control exercises;

train our staff;

prevent unauthorised use of our network; and

make sure we have effective systems in place to prevent or detect crime.

c) We do not include your details in any directory or directory enquiry service. If you’d like to have your information included in these services, get in touch and we can sort it.

d) For more details on how we use your information, please read our privacy policy on vodafone.co.uk. If you do not want to receive marketing messages from us, please contact Vodafone Customer Services (via vodafone.co.uk or by calling 191).

14. Credit-reference and fraud-prevention agencies

a) You can ask us for information about how we use your details for credit checking and fraud prevention when you take out this agreement. We will also release, to credit-reference agencies and fraud-prevention agencies, details of your agreement with us including any change of address, payments you make, account balances, missed payments, disputes and queries. We, and other organisations, may use this information to help make decisions about other credit applications made by you or other members of your household you are linked to financially and to protect both our business and our customers from fraudulent activity. We may also use any information we hold to trace debts and assess claims. If you don’t pay us in full, and on time, we may tell credit-reference agencies who will record the debt.

b) If false or inaccurate information is provided and fraud is identified, details will be passed to fraud prevention agencies. Law enforcement agencies may access and use this information. We and other organisations may also access and use this information to prevent fraud and money laundering, for example, when:

checking details on applications for credit and credit related or other facilities;

managing credit and credit related accounts or facilities;

recovering debt;

checking details on proposals and claims for all types of insurance; or

checking details of job applicants and employees.

Please contact us at the address below if you want to receive details of the relevant fraud prevention agencies. We and other organisations may access and use from other countries the information recorded by fraud prevention agencies.

15. General

a) We may transfer this agreement to anyone at any time. However, you can’t transfer this agreement to anyone unless we’ve agreed in writing beforehand. We will not unreasonably refuse this request.

b) If you or we fail to enforce our rights under this agreement, it will not prevent you or us from taking further action.

c) When you use your mobile equipment, your number may be shown to the equipment being called. Your number will always be shown if you are calling 999 or 112.

d) We’ll send you notices by post, voicemail, text or other form of electronic message and will assume that you have received them 48 hours after we have sent them. We’ll send all bills and notices served by post, to the address you have given. You must tell us about any changes to your address. If you want to write or email us please use the address shown on your bill. You can then assume we have received these notices 48 hours after you have sent them.

e) If you have a complaint please contact customer services first. We will do our best to resolve your issues. If we are unable to resolve the issue you may request that the matter is referred to an independent ombudsman under our Code of Practice which is available online or by contacting us. Alternatively, either you or us may bring legal proceedings in a court in the UK to resolve a dispute under this agreement.

f) This agreement is under English law, unless:

you live in Scotland, in which case, it will be governed by Scots law; or

you live in Northern Ireland, in which case it will be governed by the law of Northern Ireland.

para 13 d - d) For more details on how we use your information, please read our privacy policy on vodafone.co.uk. If you do not want to receive marketing messages from us, please contact Vodafone Customer Services (via vodafone.co.uk or by calling 191). Contact us